Kilroy Was Here

  

We've all seen it, that cute little bald guy with a big nose hanging over a fence or a wall, with the words, "Kilroy was here" beside him. Most of us have even written it on a wall or two somewhere.

It's a statement of our presence in the world, a fun mark of existence. But from where did it start?

The phrase "Kilroy was here" is known throughout the world. It went viral long before there was social media. It started in America during World War II. Kilroy was found everywhere American soldiers went, even the beachheads they stormed. It seemed to be a unique American graffiti. There was a story that one of his most daring appearances may have been at the Potsdam Conference in 1945. During the summit, Harry Truman, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin had exclusive use of a VIP bathroom. One day, Stalin reportedly used the facilities, and came out demanding to know from one of his aides who Kilroy was, having found the drawing on one of the walls. 

For many years no one knew the origin of this little fella. A few years earlier in 1938 there was a similar character in England, Mr. Chad.

Instead of announcing his presence, Mr. Chad made a comment on shortages and rations during the war. His doodles said things like WOT? No tea? Or WOT? No sugar? And it is certain that our Kilroy came from this little character, Mr. Chad. But who was Kilroy?

In 1946, the American Transit Association
held a radio contest to establish the origin of the phrase. A number of men claimed to be the artist. One of them was James J. Kilroy, who worked as at the Bethlehem Steel shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts during the war inspecting the work done by others on the tanks and hulls of warships.

As Kilroy explained:

I started my new job with enthusiasm, carefully surveying every inner bottom and tank before issuing a contract. I was thoroughly upset to find that practically every test leader [the head of a work crew] I met wanted me to go down and look over his job with him, and, when I explained to him that I had already checked the job and could not spare the time to crawl through one of those tanks again, he would accuse me of not having looked the job over.

I was getting sick of of being accused of not looking the jobs over and one day as I came through the manhole of a tank I had just surveyed, I angrily marked with yellow crayon on the tank top, where the tester could see it, 'Kilroy was here.'

The following day, a test gang leader approached me with a grin on his face and said, ‘I see you looked my job over.' I nodded in agreement.

Kilroy provided corroborating statements from men he worked with at the shipyard. He assumed that men who had worked there, when they joined the service, took the phrase with them overseas. 

The Transit Association provided James Kilroy the grand prize: a full-size trolley street car! And just before Christmas 1946, a 12-ton trolley car was delivered to Kilroy's home. He loved it! He attached it to his house and six of his nine children used it as their living space.

The next time you see this little doodle, the next time you have the urge to write it on a wall or a chalkboard or on a sidewalk, remember the rich history of this little fella. He is known throughout the world and is still announcing his presence to this day. This is outside Osama Bin Laden's house....

 

And so it goes
peace~~~